Legend of the Spellthief

Returning to the party with their initial cleanout complete, Logan saw his team fully prepared for further locking down of their entrance to the dungeon. It was agreed that they would do a wide sweep on the ground and the air around the base of the mountain to make sure their exit was fully clear, there was talk of patrolling monsters and if those three blue goblins were all there was it seemed lacklustre.

Splitting into two teams, the casters and the martials, the group went north and south around the mountain. Surprisingly there were no more threats in sight, though Logan's half did find the carriages of previous teams, their mounts long since ran off in search of food or safety. The carriages had a lot of their cloth roofs torn apart, the items inside ransacked by men or monsters.

Making note of the still usable vehicles the party grouped back up after a half-hour of patrolling, no signs of danger. To make sure they would not be interrupted during their night's rest before their invasion, the party prepared to clear the entrance chamber. Tsuker, Cerall, and Kreya positioned themselves at the large maw, which was around 20' tall, weapons at the ready.

Nodding to Fleur, Araxi, Uhnarr, and Marcus, Logan lifted his arm. “Flame Shot”, he chanted, the largest flame to date forming across his arm that lit up the area brilliantly. Throwing his arm towards the maw caused the flames to coalesce into a ball and fire into the mouth of the mountain, lightning its interior as it flew for a fair distance.

The mountain's outside was mostly mud and rock, though as the fireball made its way inside, the party saw it shift quickly to a large cavern of ice walls and floors. As his spell hit the floor after dipping low enough it exploded into a modest area before dissipating.

Everyone remained tense for a few minutes as they awaited enemies to charge them, but nobody came. Kreya yelled out into the maw, but nobody came.

“Seems the info was right, the entrance was cleared a long time ago”, Cerall announced.

Tsuker brought up his bell and dinged it several times, “I can't detect anything.”

Logan similarly clicked his fingers to reveal the same result.

“Seems our entrance is secured then. Shall we set up camp?” Kreya asked as she looked back at Logan.

“Yeah, my summons will watch the entrance while we do that.”

At his instruction both Celsius and Spark moved to just before the opening of the mountain. The rest of the party retreated back somewhat, some moving the carriages over via their horses, others breaking apart some dead wood for makeshift walls and defence. Covering the flanks of their camp the party would be able to have a better defensive fallback than if they were clearly in the open.

The plan was always to rest before entering the dungeon, to let any fatigue be left at the door and go through it full of vigour. They needn't rush things, with so much danger on the horizon and so much money after it they could foster some safety in their mission. With the Spy Bird returning the party was sure they would be moderately safe, ignoring the woes about monsters leaving the cavern.

There was plenty of time left for the party to make further plans to deal with the dungeon, though they had already spent most of the three-day travel doing so. Formations were solidified and tactics were confirmed. If they could be any more prepared, Logan didn't know how. The last thing he could have done was wait around for more members, but that was going to be a long shot with how large the group already was, alongside other factors.

With everything set in motion, the party rested for the last time before their dungeon clearing began.

Logan awoke an hour early as he had planned, determined to clear his final dungeon and make it back to Earth. Moving away from the camp he did his new routine of absorbing and transferring his summons' MP to his own.

Preparing his spells as before Logan had 3+2 Flame, 1 Necromantic, 3 Summons, *4+1 Dimensional Jaunt, and 10 MP. He didn't have a chance up till now to utilize this. Sure, he absorbed and cast spells against the naegren, but this was with a team backing him up. He could strut his stuff as a last hurrah before leaving behind the discrimination of casters.

The team eventually woke and prepared themselves similarly, double-checking weapons, shields, and armour for loss of durability. Logan and the casters attuned to their magical staves, and that was it. With their rear pretty much scouted out ahead of time the formation changed to have the martials in the front with the casters at the back, and Logan at the far back. Pushing onwards they approached the mountain.

A biting chill screamed out from the maw of the cavern, the misty air visible as it chewed on the exposed flesh of the adventurers. Crunching on the hot rocks supplied by Marcus helped to fight back against the harsh atmosphere but it was ever-present. Logan buttoned up his coat while the others fastened their scarves harshly.

As the party had all passed the boundary of the dungeon they felt the floor beneath their feet shake, the walls vibrating away loose dust and icy grains. Suddenly a violent crashing occurred from behind them, four large icicles shooting from the floor and piercing the ceiling and walls. With their exit cut off the coldness intensified as the heat could no longer enter the cavern.

Spinning around to the noise the party stared at it in surprise then began to dart their heads around to locate any further danger.

“Fuck, this place turning to a tomb?” Tsuker cursed.

“Hey, Logan, any info on this?” Cerall questioned.

“No, nothing. Maybe a new development as the Ice King gets closer to reviving?” Logan responded. “Fuck, is this because of me?” He thought to himself.

Kreya made her way to the back, raised her mace high and smashed it into the wall. The ice caved in slightly with the bludgeoning attack but stood tall. “Damn, sturdy shit”, she exclaimed as she continued to smash against it.

Five strikes caused the ice to finally smash apart, falling down to reveal a sizeable gap for the party to exit. “There, we should-” Kreya began but was swiftly cut off as another icicle shot from the floor to fill the gap she had created.

“Looks like if we want to leave we’d have to be quick about it”, Cerall announced.

“A single Flame should deal with it if it comes to that, though this corridor would make it a bit of a run”, Logan calculated.

“Well, no use worrying over it, if it keeps remaking itself there must be a spellforce device or creature deeper in creating it. We’ll find it as we clear the place”, Cerall continued.

Looking down the hallway they now found themselves within, it was around fifty feet long and led into a large dome-roofed area. Logan was beginning to notice a pattern in some of these dungeons with their beginning areas.

“Reports say the first room was clear, but better safe than sorry. Uhnarr can you enhance the melee members?” Logan instructed.

“Essence of power, grant onto others. Enhance Strength, Sustained”, the gashriek chanted. As he placed his hand on Cerall the Fighter became surrounded by a faint blue glow before his muscles emboldened and took a sturdier stance.

Moving between Cerall, Tsuker, and Kreya, the three were all granted bonuses to their Strength and Constitution. It was a costly enhancement but the introductory portions of dungeons often saw clusters of rooms alerted at once. Since the team planned for a few days of clearing they could easily rest after the durations ended.

Continuing through the hallway, the parties’ footsteps echoed throughout the chamber ahead. Temperatures continued to bite at the group, their extra clothing or magical items fighting back as best they could. Reaching the larger chamber had the lead melee members dart their heads around to look for obvious threats. When none were found the rest of the group pressed on.

The chamber was huge, an easy thirty feet to the ceiling with a good hundred feet in each direction from the centre. Sitting in the middle the hallway gave a clear footpath to another hallway leading away from the beginning room. As was stated it was devoid of monsters, but also devoid of corpses. Either they were eaten up or the dwellers of the cavern liked to keep things tidy.

Tsuker rang his bell and Logan clicked his fingers, returning positive on the lack of confrontational forces, or negative depending on their personal views.

“Glad the intel was solid, heading forward?” Tsuker asked.

“Carry on, mind any surprise exits in the next hallway”, Logan instructed.

With the command the party continued onwards, Kreya staring forwards with her mace and shield at the ready, Tsuker eyeing the right flank with his dual-daggers and Cerall the left with his shortsword and buckler.

However, as the party reached the centre point of the chamber the floor started to shake once again. Dust and icy particles fell from the ceiling as countless stalactites shot downwards, each around 10’ tall. The whole group visibly flinched at the sight and sound, expecting to be impaled, but were thankful that the stalactites stopped before getting close to them.

“Fuck me, that was close”, Kreya cursed.

As Tsuker was about to respond the floor shook yet again, however this time it was more like a prolonged earthquake. With two epicentres, one on the left and the other on the right, the floor started to crack all over, summoning upwards several large icicles. Creating makeshift triangular tombs the icicles shone brightly against the light cast off from the parties’ sources.

The icicle tombs then violently exploded, the contents crashing through them with mighty fists and roaring maws. Two giant monsters had been summoned from the floor, a mix of yeti and golem designs. At around 20’ tall they almost glanced the stalactites that had formed, their arms as thick as tree trunks. White fur covered all but their chest and stomach, which were coated in hard blue rock.

As the room shook with their ferocity the party took on a defensive formation, Logan eyeing up both the tyrants and mentally commanding, “Identify.”

“Lieutenant Frost.”

The window returned a frightful sight, skulls and crossbones topped with golden crowns. One enemy of that danger would be fine, but two? They were at least level 17 adversaries, a death sentence for the casters if they were to get caught.

“Kreya, pull anger. Casters retreat to the hallway!” Logan shouted as he waved his hand to where they had just come from.

“Come Forth!” Kreya yelled, the room having another loud voice add to its shaky manner. The lieutenants shifted their ugly faces and their glowing yellow eyes towards the Knight who had drawn their attention.

Cerall, using Rush, charged towards the yeti on the left. His red-aura sword slashed through the foe’s leg though failing to puncture its thick hide the same at it did against the crowbolds.

Tsuker wasn’t too far behind as he used Dash to catch up and flank to the yeti’s rear to let out Backstabs into its calves.

Kreya held her shield high as the right yeti had made its own charge at the taunting Knight, slamming down with a ferocious double-fist smash into her shield. The ground beneath her feet cracked, along with her shield.

“Shit”, she exclaimed.

Araxie and Fleur began to fire off Flames one after another at the right yeti, blasting its side twice before a follow-up from Logan had also found its way into its head. In retaliation, the right yeti roared and raised its left arm, a hole opened up within its palm that produced a large 10’ long icicle spear. Pulling its arm back it dislodged the spear and lunged its hand forward to grab it.

Throwing the spear upwards the yeti grabbed it again with an underarm, pulling it back as if it were a pitcher looking to strike his opponent out he launched it towards the casters at the rear. Logan jumped to the side to dodge, but it was a needless movement as it went straight past him and pierced Araxie dead in her chest, impaling her to the ground behind her.

A staggering 45 damage had pinned the Sorceress to the floor as she yelled out in pain. Fleur moved quickly to help her friend, melting the spear with a Flame cast.

The left yeti had been barraged several times by the duo of Tsuker and Cerall who seemed to have been used to fighting side-by-side. Kreya’s skill seemingly had little effect on the foes ahead, instead, she decided to focus the right yeti to keep its attention off the casters.

With a solid fist into Cerall’s face, the Fighter took a walloping 35 damage, a follow-up punch into the stomach sent him flying into a stalactite, dealing 32 and piercing him for a further 33. His body exploded outwards a mist of multi-coloured effects, showing the cancellation of his skills, his mouth letting a stream of blood paint the floor in the scene of a murder.

“Cerall!” Tsuker yelled. Jumping upwards the Rogue used his daggers on the back of the yeti to climb ever higher. Inflicting further Backstabs but also getting to the point he could jump to his friend.

As the Rogue made the jump the yeti caught the man’s leg, slamming him to the floor with a horrifying crunch. Picking him back up again, the yeti continued to slam the defenceless Rogue into the floor to turn it into a student’s splatter painting.

Fiery barrages continued to hurl to the right yeti, however, the monster had learnt from the antics of the faraway foes. Snapping stalactites of ice from the ceiling, the foe used several of them to block the incoming flaming balls, effectively negating their attacks.

Logan locked eyes with Tsuker as his body was swung upwards again, commanding his rings to allow him to teleport. Imploding and exploding with jets of wind he appeared on the hand of the yeti and grabbed onto his ally, looking across the room he teleported once more and took Tsuker to safety besides Marcus who began to heal the crushed Rogue.

“This isn’t looking good, we-” Logan began but was cut off by another roar.

The room shook, though when didn’t it, as the right yeti summoned up a thick fog. Whilst assumed to be a way to block vision, the fog instead summoned up countless dagger-sized icicles that shot in a 360° coverage from the elite foe. Celsius moved to block Logan, Spark to block Marcus, the elementals taking the brunt of the ranged barrage.

Logan’s elementals weren’t sturdy enough, however, and the new attack had decimated both into nothingness. The rest of the party suffered greatly, some of them taking several hits from the onslaught of ice.

The left yeti had been making its way to the casters at the back, Cerall being quite stuck as he was impaled in the ceiling, dripping more blood to the floor.

“Flame Skystrike”, Logan chanted, causing his spell to appear behind his foe and strike down into its back.

The yeti stumbled somewhat as it was confused at the attack, but turned its head to continue advancing on the casters. An attack of three more Flames hit the yeti as it continued toward them.

Kreya was too busy to aid, her shield shattering from another attack of the right yeti. Summoning up another from her bracer it already showed signs of decay from the first attack that smashed into it.

Cerall had finally dislodged himself from the ceiling and fell to a knee on the floor. Downing potions from his satchel he picked up his sword and began to charge down the left yeti.

With his healing finished, Tsuker also stood once again and Dashed at the yeti close to the casters.

Seeing himself get surrounded, the left yeti roared just like his kin, though this time he smashed into the floor. The icy ground beneath shot upwards, grappling at the adventurers’ legs and trapping them in place. A following roar and pounding of his chest had the yeti then summon up the ranged ice daggers, the mist producing a countless number.

Everyone got impaled this time, unable to dodge the blast that came their way. From slashes of swords and crushing of maces to the fiery blasts of magic, the team all escaped further containment.

The casters began to run and cast at the same time, Flames either hitting true or being blocked by icicles, Heals being shot towards allies taking brutal attacks. Logan was glad the melee portion of the team had been buffed ahead of time, thinking it had saved them from an early defeat. Though this was a war of attrition, and spells were quickly running out.

It was a clear sign that the group had dealt a hefty amount of damage to the left yeti as it roared out in pain, its body being surrounded in a red mist as its eyes changed from yellow to red. Thinking it to be Rage or some similar ability the casters continued to stay far away, leaving Cerall and Tsuker to fight an angry yeti.

Kreya had begun her own movements, trying to dodge and avoid the right yeti as best she could to save on her limited supply of shields. If this was how the rest of the dungeon was going to go they were going to have trouble going forward.

The troubles reared their ugly heads early though, the left yeti grabbing ahold of Tsuker once more though this time around his arms and chest. Cerall was about to save his ally but was similarly grabbed.

Logan teleported once again to save Tsuker, exploding with wind blasts on each end as he took the Rogue far away. Before he was able to teleport back to grab Cerall the yeti had already placed the upper half of the Fighter in its mouth, crunching down on the man with its massive teeth.

Teleporting to the back of the yeti, Logan placed his palm on its neck and exclaimed, “Flame Grasp”, igniting the yeti in a torrent of deathly fires. The yeti let out its own yell in pain as it stopped bitting onto Cerall. Throwing an arm behind its back the yeti grappled Logan just below his chin and dragged him upside down to his front.

With his mouth and eyes free Logan looked to an unoccupied spot below him and teleported again, “Dimensional Jaunt”, appearing on the floor he jumped upwards and grabbed onto Cerall and teleported next to Marcus for another patch-up job. Logan was fresh out of spells and rings, leaving only his 5 MP and a single Necromantic in his repertoire. The fight was falling apart, and the two yetis were still standing. “How much bloody health do they have!” Logan cursed in his head.

“Uhnarr, keep them healed!” Logan shouted at the far gashriek, who had been lucky thus far to not be targeted.

As his head turned, the yetis went about their next trick. Smashing their fists into the floor it began to shake violently, cracks dancing across the floor until it reached beneath the adventurer’s feet. Expecting another grappling attempt a few jumped in the air in time with the cracks, but it was for nought.

Several large walls of ice came crashing upwards, similar to the Wall alterations Logan had used before. However, this new one was seemingly endless and much more ferocious. Araxie was the first to be brought up, the large wall of ice dragging the Sorceress to the ceiling and crushing the stalactites that had formed early.

A horrendous crunch was heard as the woman’s bones were ground down, a haunting squelching of mashing meat, and the horrifying spray of blood that erupted out the sides of the wall. Logan’s eyes went wide in horror as he saw it occur, and dread filled his mind as he saw the section of his party list that had Araxie placed on it accrue a large red x.

Quickly he moved his eyes to the floor to notice the next wall, he saw it a second before it erupted under Fleur’s legs. “Dimension-” he started to yell, but his voice was cut off as he saw the large wall ascend again, crushing the Wizard against the ceiling, his party menu blaring a large red x yet again.

Forgetting the notion of tracking the wall outbursts he darted his head to Marcus, “-al Jaunt!”

Logan’s body whirred out with a wind blast, the ground previously beneath his own feet skyrocketing to a death press to the ceiling. Appearing with a pleading gaze he reached out his arm to grab Marcus, the cloth of his tunic wrapped around the Spellthief’s fingers.

Another chant started to escape Logan’s mouth, as the floor beneath his and Marcus’s feet started to crack.

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